A typical data storage system stores and retrieves data for one or more external host devices. Conventional data storage systems typically include a storage processor and an array of disk drives electrically coupled to the storage processor. The storage processor includes one or more ports, such as Fibre Channel ports, that allow the host devices to connect to the storage processor and is typically configured to perform load and store operations on the array of disk drives on behalf of the host devices.
In certain data storage systems, in order to hide a range of private network addresses behind a single public network address, the data storage system includes one or more communication devices, such as routers, that utilize a network address translation (NAT) procedure. In one arrangement, a data storage system such as the CLARiiON™ system produced by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass., utilizes a data communications device, disposed in electrical communication with the host device, to perform the NAT procedure on communications between a client device and the host device. For example, when initially accessing a privately networked CLARiiON™ system, a client device on a public network uses a public Internet Protocol (IP) destination address to transmit a connection request packet to the CLARiiON™ system. The data communication device receives the packet and, using the NAT procedure, translates the public IP destination address in the packet header to a private IP destination address of the CLARiiON™ system's host device. The data communication device then routes the packet to the host device for establishment of a network connection between the public and private network devices
In such a configuration, the client device cannot directly access the host device using the private IP addresses of the host device. Accordingly, by masking internal host devices from an external network, the data communication device allows the internal host devices to have class C IP addresses while masquerading under a single IP address.